Feedback on offer required

Hello Prem!
Oil and Gas is a vast field, including numerous operations, i.e. drilling, reservoirs, maintainance, down/upstreams, compressors, plants etc etc....  Would you mind elaborating to which area of expertise you've been selected for. From your post, it indicates that you have been selected for a firm that is involved in the Sales and Marketting of the oil and gas equipment (not the operations). Correct me if I'm wrong. If there's a sales portfolio involved, then it will b limited to specific products that may be required for maintainance/installation jobs and the salary seems OK. However, If it is a direct oil and gas consultant or an operator, the salary is even less than the standard market.

The "cost of living" section of this forum and numerous posts can give you a brief idea about the living expenses. With OMR 1250 (All inclusive), you may not enjoy a levish life, but a decent one, however if your employer provides a 2BHK apartment alongwith this salary, then you're in a comparitively comfortable zone and a desirable lifestyle may be obtained.

Your second option is also addequate one, i.e. negotiating the salary to OMR 1850. That would be a much better option as you'll be having an option of selecting the accomodation according to your own budget with potential savings. Please note that a considerable (Decent) 1BHK in a nice locality will cost you approximately around 350 - 450 OMR / month, while in some areas, you may find the same in much lesser price but then you have to compromise on a few scenarios (specially the locality itself).

Best of luck and do let me know incase any further info required.

Hi,
Thanks for  your elaborate answer. The company is an EPC company doing subcontracts, manufacturing and piping for larger EPC companies like petrofac.they also take up direct EPC jobs.



May be 1250 is good enough to survive. Question is- is it a competitive package for person of my experience and profile? Or is there scope on the upper side. I do not want to repent after accepting the offer considering I want to move with my family and again look out for another job.

Do companies value qualification there. For example can I leverage a bit on my MBA for negotiation?

House need not be in a posh locality. But. Convenient to commute to an Indian school and office. 1 bhk furnished 250or possible?

One irrelavant question-Is getting driving license difficult in muscat?

Looking forward to your suggestion.

EPC contracting firms are wide spread in Oman. But i'm not sure how they're engaged with the marketting. May be by marketting, you mean contract management. If its a pipe manufacturing organization, then yes, that clicks here.

May be 1250 is good enough to survive. Question is- is it a competitive package for person of my experience and profile? Or is there scope on the upper side. I do not want to repent after accepting the offer considering I want to move with my family and again look out for another job.

OMR 1250 (In general) is assumed to be an above average salary for a qualified person. However, i will again repeat that for the core oil and gas sector, a minimum salary scale (for an engineer with almost 7 years experience) starts from OMR 2800 to OMR 3000 with additional accomodation/school fees for 2 children and other benefits. The pay scale is directly proportional to the experience level. But again, it varies from company to company,
P.S, please note that once you join a company in Oman and if you wish to leave it, you can not work in Oman for another 2 years as there has been a BAN on work visa (2 years) for those who leave their jobs here.

Do companies value qualification there. For example can I leverage a bit on my MBA for negotiation?

You may discuss this with your employer, however frankly speaking, companies do value your qualifications on the papers only. When it comes to work, you may find a technician / clerk who is more important to the managers 

House need not be in a posh locality. But. Convenient to commute to an Indian school and office. 1 bhk furnished 250or possible?

Depending upon the location, yes you may find a 1BHK in OMR 250.

One irrelavant question-Is getting driving license difficult in muscat?

A simple answer to your question is "Yes Indeed". It is difficult in Muscat but if you take the driving test outside muscat (In a small town), you may find it easier.

Thank you for the details. I will let you know after a come to the final negotiation point.
Yes you are right- it is a mix of contract management and marketing/tendering. It is a tier 2 company. Not a big one like petrofac.

I will start with 2000 or and settle for anything above 1750 or considering that I have no oil & gas exp.

Hi,
As expected I am offered 1300 or all inclusive. Of which 75 or will be paid only after I get a license to drive. Other benefits include medical insurance+ yearly tickets for family.

1) is it worth while especially considering I cannot shift jobs if i am under paid.
2) is the medical insurance amount of 1000or good enough. It appears to less to me.
3) what is the probability of visa for self and wife getting rejected.
4) what is the intensity of the omanisation drive currently. How is it affecting the job market and new expats. In general how is the job security?
6),how are the appraisals in Oman companies. What is the cycle generally for salary revision? In general what is the salary increase range like considering normal performance.
10)  is there any negotiation to be done on the category of visa ( I am not sure- engineer level, manager level etc). Is there any implication on the benefits I may enjoy based on the category of visa?
7) what is the real time inflation like in muscat. Has cost of living increased substantially over the years like in india?
8) as a thumb rule can we consider 2.5 to 3 times the Indian salary for benchmarking? I have serious doubts  if the company will budge to my request for 1800 or. If they don't I will decline the offer. Can some one give a ballpark figure to settle in case I decide to. Engineer+MBA with 9 yrs exp. Oil and gas construction contracting company. Contract management & marketing. While I am not desperate, I don't mind being a little bit flexible to gain gulf experience.

Can someone respond to clear my apprehensions please.

premchandar_au wrote:

Hi,
As expected I am offered 1300 or all inclusive. Of which 75 or will be paid only after I get a license to drive. Other benefits include medical insurance+ yearly tickets for family.

1) is it worth while especially considering I cannot shift jobs if i am under paid.
2) is the medical insurance amount of 1000or good enough. It appears to less to me.
3) what is the probability of visa for self and wife getting rejected.
4) what is the intensity of the omanisation drive currently. How is it affecting the job market and new expats. In general how is the job security?
6),how are the appraisals in Oman companies. What is the cycle generally for salary revision? In general what is the salary increase range like considering normal performance.
10)  is there any negotiation to be done on the category of visa ( I am not sure- engineer level, manager level etc). Is there any implication on the benefits I may enjoy based on the category of visa?
7) what is the real time inflation like in muscat. Has cost of living increased substantially over the years like in india?
8) as a thumb rule can we consider 2.5 to 3 times the Indian salary for benchmarking? I have serious doubts  if the company will budge to my request for 1800 or. If they don't I will decline the offer. Can some one give a ballpark figure to settle in case I decide to. Engineer+MBA with 9 yrs exp. Oil and gas construction contracting company. Contract management & marketing. While I am not desperate, I don't mind being a little bit flexible to gain gulf experience.

Hi premchandar_au,

schaz, one of the most helpful members of this forum has already given you elaborate explanations and guidances on your queries.

I will also try and help you out with whatever little I can.

If you are from an MBA from some premier institute like the IIM (A), then your salary is not good enough. But if you passed out from a tier 2 institute or lesser then it is not too bad.

Other benefits like the paid annual airfare for self and family, medical for self and family are all standard fares which is applicable to all white-collar expat employees. So there's nothing special about those.

To keep it brief, my specific responses are marked against your queries below :

1) is it worth while especially considering I cannot shift jobs if i am under paid.- This is your call. The only advantage of earning here as opposed to earning in India is the 100% tax-free benefit. So every single rial and every single baiza that you earn belongs entirely to you. Also the saving potential here is much higher than it would be back home. That is one of the most important, or perhaps even the single most important reason why so many Indians are working here. Add to this the higher standards and quality of living and you have some good reasons to be here. But you must carefully weigh and compare your income / expenses / savings potential between there and here. You will find the answer. Yes, as you have rightly said, shifting jobs within Oman is not possible. Also resigning and returning to India is not really an option, because if you do so you cannot come back for a minimum period of 2 years. So if you accept the offer you might have to continue - whether you like it or not.

2) is the medical insurance amount of 1000or good enough. It appears to less to me. - R.O. 1,000/- is it for a year, or for a month ? Is it for all your family members, or for you alone ? R.O. 1,000/- is a big amount. For common ailments and treatment this amount would more than suffice - for you, as well as for all your family members.

3) what is the probability of visa for self and wife getting rejected. - If the company has the required job / labour clearance then getting an employment visa is a simple and straightforward process. If the clearance is not there, it is a big question mark which no one, including your employer can answer. Getting a dependant visa is not a problem at all, if the requirements specified are met.

4) what is the intensity of the omanisation drive currently. How is it affecting the job market and new expats. In general how is the job security? - For instance, in sectors like Banking the Omanisation percentage is as high as 95%. All organisations have to meet their Ministry of Manpower specified Omanisation percentages. The least would be say about 35%. The Omanisation percentages varies from sector-to-sector and from company-to-company. Many jobs are already 100% Omanised - jobs like Secretaries, Office Assistants, Drivers, Front-Office / Receptionists, etc. As you can see most of these jobs are for Omanis who pass out with basic school education. Obviously, the Omanisation drive is throwing the spanner in the works of expatriate employment opportunities big time. And it will only get worse as time rolls by, given the government's huge emphasis on providing gainful employment opportunities to the locals. By that yardstick, all expatriate jobs have to be seen as temporary only. 100% Omanisation across all jobs is not a reality, nor is it possible in this country. But slowly, yet surely, the authorities will Omanise as many jobs as they possibly can. So no expat can say with cent percent certainty that his / her job is 100% secure.

5) how are the appraisals in Oman companies. What is the cycle generally for salary revision? In general what is the salary increase range like considering normal performance. - In most companies no appraisals or performance reviews are done. Even if it is done, it is not done in earnest. Exceptions are of course there. Pretty much all the larger companies in the Oil and Gas sector (like PDO, Shell, B.P. OLNG, etc) follow systems, processes and procedures. Salary revisions are done annually. As per the Ministry of Manpower rules every company must give all its employees - locals as well as expatriates - a minimum hike of 3% of their basic salary. Because of this rule which was passed just a couple of years back, lots of small and medium sized companies get away by paying its employees just this 3% of the basic and nothing more !!

6) is there any negotiation to be done on the category of visa ( I am not sure- engineer level, manager level etc). Is there any implication on the benefits I may enjoy based on the category of visa? - You are talking of 2 different things here. 1 is a common employment visa which is required for all expatriate employees to be employed. The second is the job description which will be mentioned in the Resident Card. This is important. The designation / category mentioned there would decide whether or not one is eligible or not for many benefits / perks like crossing the country's border by road / air etc. No negotiations would be possible as all expatriate jobs are given as per the labour clearances that are available. In fact for all expatriates whether they are working as CEOs or janitors, they all will hold the same employment visa, renewable every 2 years. But the resident card fixes the economic and social levels of the expatriates. Obviously, it is directly connected to the earning potential of the expatriate.

7) what is the real time inflation like in muscat. Has cost of living increased substantially over the years like in india? - Like all countries around the world, Oman too is facing economic challenges - bit on a lesser scale. The good news is inflation is in check and is very much under control, unlike in a place like India perhaps. This is only because of the substantial income the country generates through their oil revenues. But as you may probably be aware, the global oil prices have taken a serious beating in the recent times and that has already had a negative impact on the national revenues. It has dropped significantly. New austerity measures have already been put in place by the authorities. But the government has gone on record and has assured all residents that there will not be any serious repercussions on account of this fallout. Yes, there is an increase in the cost of living now as opposed to a few years back. That is of course something normal and natural.

8) as a thumb rule can we consider 2.5 to 3 times the Indian salary for benchmarking? - The single most tangible benefit of being employed here in Oman is the tax-free income. That in itself is a big saving for expatriate employees. Your last comment of gaining 'gulf experience' is actually and in reality, a disqualification. Careerwise Oman is not a great place to be. I always dissuade any fresher from taking up employment here as the opportunities to learn and gain through work experience would be very limited. But you are not a fresher. People who come here come for 1 reason - to earn and save as much as possible. No one really comes here to better themselves careerwise.

I wish you good luck.

Dear Mr.Sumitran

Nanri (Thanks) for the clarifications  ... . It was pretty precise. I did my MBA from BIM (Bharathidasan Instirute of Management-one of the top 25 in the country - def tier 2 anyways). Medical Insurance - I am not sure if it is monthly or yearly. Need to check with them.

I will conclude this way
Move to Oman
if your primary aim is to save back home in a shorter period
If you do not have a long term career plans in Oman (unless it is a tier 1 company)

What is negotiated as a entry salary is extremely important because systems are not in place to take care of appraisals subsequently. Do not choose to shift unless the compensation is significantly better to start with.
- It is a better place than India in terms of facilities and quality of life. It is very easy for Indians to settle down.

Thank you. I will take a call accordingly

Probably not the right forum to ask. I am a regular badminton player here. Do you have many such clubs to play in muscat. If so how much will it cost per month?... I googled and found that only a few star hotels and some philipino organization had one. I am not sure whether they will others to play.... Are there good sport complexes?.